Monthly Archives: September 2011

As a Video Producer for DR Power Equipment, I need to find locations to highlight my company’s products. Front Porch Forum makes my job much easier and I get to meet really great folks. Thanks for your help!

I love being an FPF member. A friend recommended it to me and at first I thought, “no way, I don’t want any more emails” but it doesn’t take any time to go through the daily list.

FPF connects me to my community, makes the bond between us stronger, and personal conversations continue due to FPF postings. I look forward to reading it every night. I’m not a Facebook fan but I LOVE Front Porch Forum.

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Thank you to our Grand Isle neighbor for finding our keys and responding to our Front Porch Forum post! It’s been an amazing week of neighbors looking out for us. We hope to reciprocate when the opportunity arises!

… community and place-based foundations leaders meet with journalism and technology experts… will provide new insights into the changing media landscape and emerging technologies while offering concrete examples of how foundations are helping to fill their community’s information voids…

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I think this is a FIRST for Front Porch Forum. Posted by an FPF member in Burlington’s Old North End today…

This morning, at about 1.30 a.m., my husband and I were ripped from coma-like sleep by a loud distress sound. It sounded like it came from about 250 feet away, somehwere on the eastern part of Walnut, up from Dot’s Market. The sound didn’t vary much in pitch. For about 15 minutes, we lay in bed speculating about its its source.

“I think its a possum or something. Perhaps an animal in a have-a-heart trap?,” speculated my husband.

“No, I think it is a seagull. I bet its trapped in a dumpster or garbage,” I offered.

In his boxers, my husband left the house to help the poor animal. He was back shortly after, with the sound was still carrying through the whole neighborhood.

“Not a seagull, Val. A mammal. A **very happy** neighbor.” To maintain the G-rated spirit of Front Porch Forum, I will proceed by referring to the sound sources as the”trapped seagull” and the “seagull rescuer,” who was clearly already on the scene before my husband and I thought to help.

Trapped seagull: I am happy for your late hour pleasure. I know this won’t be an issue in 4 weeks when we have to sleep with our windows closed, but it would be neighborly if you didn’t broadcast your coital bliss over such a wide distance.

Seagull Rescuer: Trapped seagull is not being honest with you. If a seagull were trapped for that long and were forced to give out a distress call at the volume for such a long time, she would, in real life, perish of exhaustion. Only in the movies do seagulls maintain that level of pleasure at that volume for 45 minutes.

Then again, maybe the rest of us are doing it wrong and seagull and rescuer are on to something. Perhaps we can knock on their door and ask them next time we are treated to their pleasure sounds?

… But of late, more people in this hardscrabble town of 5,000 have shifted from sharing the latest news and rumors over eggs and coffee to the Mountain Grove Forum on a social media Web site called Topix, where they write and read startlingly negative posts, all cloaked in anonymity, about one another.

And in Dee’s Place, people are not happy. A waitress, Pheobe Best, said that the site had provoked fights and caused divorces. The diner’s owner, Jim Deverell, called Topix a “cesspool of character assassination”…

Ouch. More motivation to keep FPF moving in a positive direction.

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I’m looking forward to speaking at the Block by Block Community News Summit in Chicago (Sept. 29 – Oct. 1). Sounds like a fantastic gathering of online community news publishers. I’m eager to share what we’ve been learning about community engagement through our work with Front Porch Forum, but I suspect that I’ll learn more from other participants than vice versa. Thanks to the sponsors for bringing this group together.

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My Dad was an avid gardener.Vegetables and flowers. I developed an appreciation for gardening from him. Of five kids, I have one other sibling who enjoys it and its a brother. When we moved to [our home], I turned the front lawn into a flower garden. In the beginning it was mostly annuals that reseeded. Over time I added perennials and more gardens. (I’m the one who offers Hen and Chicks- which are still available….hint hint) I also like to put things in the flowers like toys and lawn ornaments, adding stuff over the summer so there is more to look for.

Coming home Friday I spotted two young girls wearing fleece hats with pompoms on each side walking with Mom and a little sister in a backpack. After pulling into my driveway, I decided to wait for them to walk close enough to say hello and let them know I liked their hats. Mom said “We love your garden. There are so many neat things to look for.” I thank her and then offered her some of the sunflowers, knowing that the colder temps would soon kill them off. She was tickled and as she and her three daughters headed down the street, I realized how special this neighborhood is.

North Street in Winooski! Love it.

UPDATE: As if on cue… a neighbor responded to the posting above on her FPF neighborhood forum…

I too love your garden. I remember that your garden was how we met. As I was walking by one day many years ago, while you were weeding, you stood up, said “Hello, and welcome to the neighborhood” and then proceeded to offer me some of your beautiful flowers. If I remember correctly, it was about the same time of year. As I pass your house on my daily walks, I have fond memories of your generosity and mostly your infectious loving spirit. You make our neighborhood a wonderful place to be. I know I don’t say it enough but thanks for being my neighbor.

It’s true! People in Burlington’s Old North End and those in the Town of Cambridge both make extensive use of Front Porch Forum… and in different ways. And that’s true of dozens of different Vermont towns and neighborhoods. I’ll leave it to others to compare and contrast.

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The devastation from Hurricane Irene in many Vermont towns is hard to fully comprehend. The photos coming out of central and southern regions of the state paint a startling picture (e.g., here’s one set).

And the response from Vermonters is just as extraordinary. Witness these sample Front Porch Forum postings…

We’ve lost half a house but we’ve gained a community. I’ve never experienced being carried through a devastating event by large numbers of friends, neighbors, and complete strangers before. Thank you Moretown and out-of-town volunteers for your heart-breaking generosity.

And from Cambridge FPF…

In 36 hours you donated about 3 tons of food and supplies as well as $3,000 in support of Hurricane Irene flooding victims. The goods were sorted and repacked by an enthusiastic group and loaded into a dump truck and covered trailer. At 6:00 AM Saturday Jack and Adam will head out for a distribution center in Bennington, probably detouring through New York State to avoid road closings.

And we’re seeing hundreds more Irene-related postings on FPF in dozens of towns… from those seeking help, as well as those ready to give. Vermont is an incredible place.